MIT Technology Review
A new startup has joined the effort to genetically upgrade forests. The chestnut tree is first on their list
Under a slice-of-heaven sky, 150 acres of rolling green hills stretch off into the distance. About a dozen people—tree enthusiasts, ...
Everyone refrigerates some of their food. Here’s why that may not be a great idea
Nearly everything on the American plate is processed, shipped, stored, and sold under refrigeration. In her new book, Nicola Twilley ...
How do we feed future astronauts on Mars?
Unrelenting radiation, along with electrostatic discharge from planet-wide dust storms, drove chemical reactions in the arid Martian dirt, ultimately leaving ...
Africa fights rising hunger by looking to foods of the past
In Africa, like anywhere, hunger is driven by many interwoven factors, not all of which are a consequence of farming ...
Are weeds destined to win their escalating assault on agriculture?
Since the 1980s, more and more plants have evolved to become immune to the biochemical mechanisms that herbicides leverage to ...
Should we edit our genes to make space travel safer?
Long-distance space travel can wreak havoc on human health. There’s radiation and microgravity to contend with, as well as the ...
Avian flu on US farms could remain forever. Here’s what that may mean for human health
Bird flu has been spreading in dairy cows in the US—and the scale of the spread is likely to be ...
Can chatbots be tailored to fight back against conspiracy theories?
[R]esearchers believe they’ve uncovered a new tool for combating false conspiracy theories: AI chatbots. Researchers from MIT Sloan and Cornell ...
Sustainable mining: How plants can be deployed as ‘phytominers’ to suck up valuable minerals
Nickel may not grow on trees—but there’s a chance it could someday be mined using plants. Many plant species naturally ...
Gene editing babies: For a few hundred dollars in chemicals, you could install these changes in an embryo in ten minutes
If anyone did create an edited baby, it would raise moral and ethical issues, among the profoundest of which, [Jennifer ...
Robots enabled to detect human touch in a new way — mimicking pressure on your knuckles
Even the most capable robots aren’t great at sensing human touch; you typically need a computer science degree or at ...
‘Addictively dependent’ on an AI girlfriend? Scientists and ethicists fear artificial intelligence may undermine human romantic connections
AI companionship is no longer theoretical—our analysis of a million ChatGPT interaction logs reveals that the second most popular use of ...
‘Digital psychological twins’: AI copy of a dying family member’s consciousness could help make end-of-life decisions. Is this ethical?
End-of-life decisions can be extremely upsetting for surrogates, the people who have to make those calls on behalf of another ...
In his own words: Controversial CRISPR Chinese scientist He Jiankui says he will continue to gene edit human embryos — nonviable ones this time
Back in 2018, it was my colleague Antonio Regalado, senior editor for biomedicine, who broke the story that a Chinese ...
Viewpoint: HIV doesn’t cause AIDS? Joe Rogan’s COVID conspiracies spark surge in AIDS denialism
Several million people were listening in February when Joe Rogan falsely declared that “party drugs” were an “important factor in AIDS.” His ...
Only 10% of all plastic ever made has been recycled. Here’s why — and how we can improve the recycling process
Technology is giving us more options to reuse and recycle plastic waste, but new methods are still far from perfect ...
AI agents: What are they — and will they ‘usher in the kind of useful AI we have been dreaming about for decades?’
Tech companies are plowing vast sums into creating AI agents, and their research efforts could usher in useful AI we ...
AI vs humans: Who is better at separating truth-tellers from liars?
AI-based lie detection systems could one day be used to help us sift fact from fake news, evaluate claims, and ...
Video: From thought to movement — Mind-controlled prosthetic feels like a part of the wearer’s body
A mind-controlled prosthetic feels more like a part of the wearer’s body and promises to make walking easier ...
Milk without cows? As bird flu crisis persists, biotechnology may offer safer workaround
A precise gene-editing technology can make crops tastier, more nutritious, and more resilient to climate change. But can it avoid ...
Treating disease with electricity? There are potential benefits to hacking the body’s circuitry
In the early 2010s, electricity seemed poised for a hostile takeover of your doctor’s office. Research into how the nervous ...
Controversial party drug MDMA poised for FDA approval to treat PTSD
The FDA is poised to approve the notorious party drug as a therapy. Here’s what it means, and where similar ...
Criminals want quick gains. Here’s how AI is making their life easier
Generative AI provides a new, powerful tool kit that allows malicious actors to work far more efficiently and internationally ...
Scientists in Uruguay investigate deployment of gene drives to eradicate screwworms devastating cattle
When a female screwworm fly attacks cattle, it lays eggs, which hatch and turn into worm-like larvae that screw down ...
Immaculate cow-ception? Synthetic embryos for cattle and pigs stir fears that humans are next
An experiment, at the University of Florida, is an attempt to create a large animal starting only from stem cells—no ...
History of brainwashing: How the race for mind control changed America forever
A war correspondent who had spent considerable time in Asia, Edward Hunter had achieved brief media stardom in 1951 after ...
War and artificial intelligence: Who’s to blame when something goes wrong?
States and civil society have taken up the question of intelligent autonomous weapons as a matter of serious concern ...
Generative AI’s energy-gobbling needs may pose a climate change problem
This is the first time the carbon emissions caused by using an AI model for different tasks have been calculated ...
